Well we know that Dick Cheney has been meeting with King Abdullah in an effort to have Saudi Arabia pressure the Sunni extreamist in Iraq but before his trip Cheney was in yet another "Undisclosed Location".
Craig Crawford, writting for Congressional Quarterly suggests:
If disappearing can be a weapon, then Vice President Dick Cheney is the ultimate warrior. But this time his vanishing act could finally be wearing thin, raising the possibility that he might just go away for good.
More on the flip on why we may be seeing a whole lot less of the VP.
We've already heard reports of the hissy-fit Cheney may have had with the treatment of Rumsfeld. And at the very least, he didn't support the move.
Now Craig is suggesting that Cheney's "We don't negotiate with evil we defeat it" strategy will be directly counter to what the what the Baker Commission will be suggesting.
Baker’s nuanced diplomacy — especially his belief in dialogue with perceived enemies — is a direct threat to Cheney, contradicting what he has stood for in the Bush administration’s handling of foreign threats. Indeed, Baker’s most specific public statement in advance of the much-anticipated conclusions of his Iraq task force was seen as a intentional slap at Cheney’s world view.
“I believe in talking to your enemies,” Baker told ABC News in an interview last month. “It’s not appeasement to talk to your enemies.”
Contrast Baker’s view with what the vice president reportedly said three years ago in a high-level meeting with State Department diplomats who were urging talks with North Korea: “We don’t negotiate with evil; we defeat it.”
The president will soon have to choose between Baker’s diplomacy and Cheney’s militarism. They are too far apart for Bush to find any solid middle ground. And how he decides will go a long way toward determining whether Cheney spends the rest of his White House days in isolation.
Craig Crawford goes on to explain that Cheney might not be content to play the role of traditional VP with the highlight of breaking the occasional tie in the senate.
Any Cheney resignation could easily be done with dignity, under the cover of his well-publicized health problems. For Bush, such a move would be a tantalizing opportunity to pick a potential successor, although a majority of the Senate and House — both controlled by Democrats — would have to confirm his choice under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
Republican presidential contenders would probably lobby against a Cheney resignation, fearing the prospect of Bush choosing one of their rivals and thus creating an heir apparent. But some GOP thinkers are warming to the idea as a way for one of the party’s White House hopefuls to get a leg up against the Democrats in the 2008 presidential campaign.
One thing that Craig leaves out is that if the Democrats do start issuing subpoenas, it might be very convenient not having Dead-Eye-Dick around.
Maybe Craig Crawford is on to something, most likely not but it will be fun to watch.